Product placement takes on a whole new level when CSI runs an episode based around a science fiction convention with a thinly veiled Star Trek theme (Astro Quest indeed — they might as well have called it Galaxy Quest and been done with it!) a month before the new Star Trek movie comes out. I like the idea of some brash young filmmaker deciding to take on a sacred cow and turn it into something very noir and existential and hip and modern…only to be murdered for his efforts. The annual episodes that feature on the lab techs are always fun. They’re like the “Hurley” episodes of CSI.
I watched the rest of Planet of the Dead and the related Doctor Who Confidential (Desert Storm). There aren’t many shows I know of where the “making of” feature is as long as the show itself. I figured the desert landscape was CGI, but it was actually real desert in Dubai. It was also interesting to hear that the doubledecker bus was sent to Dubai on the deck of a freighter and had the top nearly sheared off by a container being offloaded, which sent the production crew into a panic (and fits of uncontrollable giggles) until they figured out a way to write the damage into the script. The bus looked a lot worse before they fixed it up a bit, but then they had to replicate the damage on the second bus they used in the UK for stage work. I have to say that Michelle Ryan was pretty awesome as Lady Christina and she would make a terrific companion if the Doctor could ever get out of his existential funk. I’ve never seen her before, but apparently she was the new bionic woman and I would have watched the show for that reason alone. Fiesty. Lee Evans was a hoot, too, as the UNIT computer geek. A light weight installment in terms of overall mythology, but fun to watch.
My April Storytellers Unplugged essay is up: The Work of the Copy Editor.
I’m not quite sure what the survivors found so threatening about Brandon (or is it Brendon?) other than the slight Coach felt when the others thought he’d make a good leader. Getting rid of Tyson or Coach might have been a better strategic move, and it would have been worth it to see the smile wiped off Coach’s face. Captured by pygmies indeed.
